Tuesday, December 23, 2008
A Christmas Gift of Laughter
As we creep toward Christmas day, I wanted to share this little Garrison Keillor piece with y'all. It made made me laugh out loud -- even induced a couple of involuntary snorts. Enjoy!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Winter Solstice
Yesterday was one of those magical days that happen all too often in our new hometown of San Miguel de Allende.
We awakened to a hint of frost -- 30 degrees fahrenheit. By the time we'd showered and made coffee, the temperature had risen to the mid-50's. After a couple hours of e-mails and laundry, we headed out to a party hosted by Bill, a long-time member of my Guys Group, and his partner Ann.
When we arrived, the first thing we noticed was a docile grey burro standing in their foyer, laden with tequila bottles. [???] Next to the burro was a lovely lady handing out little ceramic cups on lanyards. Ours to keep; ours to keep filled with tequila. Needless to say, the party, under a cloudless seventy-five degree sky, was magnificent. Ann did all the cooking, Bill provided the herbal enhancements, while the rest of us provided our fair share of conviviality... and made new friends.
Next, we put on swim suits under our party clothes and headed into the countryside for our first ever Winter Solstice party, uninvited guests of our friends Warren & Tuli. Upon arriving, a half hour or so short of sunset, we were escorted down a long path and series of stone stairways to a man-made, candle-lit grotto, filled with spring-fed hot water, the brainchild of Warren's friends Gary and Laura. (Don't ask; the man is an entrepreneurial genius!!) We peeled down to our suits, were offered more tequila (Gary's private label!) and additional herbal refreshments, handed a piece of welder's glass, and we joined about thirty other folks in the pool, peering down a football-field length tunnel toward a narrow vertical slot that framed the setting sun (on this one day of the year!).
For the next half hour or so we experienced an escalating communal excitement, watching the sun go down with a group of near-total strangers... and felt about as connected as we've ever been. Once the sun set, to loud cheers and chants, we ventured down the tunnel, through increasingly colder water, to a cliffside infinity pool that overlooked the orange-glowing sky and the emerging lights of San Miguel. Above Venus shown and minute by minute, the sky went from dark blue to purple to black, as the Milky Way, in all its luminous glory, emerged.
When we returned to the grotto, water was pouring from tubes in the ceiling, a powerful free-form shower most folks reveled in. Before long, folks took turns holding the arms and legs of a supine friend, whisking them back and forth or slowly rotating them through the falling water. Not exactly a massage and not exactly sex, but definitely in the same ballpark.
Eventually, we all reached a happy dream-like and prune-like state.
Once we dried off, in a frenzy of naked excitement, we headed up to Gary and Laura's hacienda to enjoy a huge pot of homemade pozole, the unbelievable music of a live, five-piece band and dancing en masse under the star-lit sky. Whoa!!
Naturally, when we went to leave, drowsy and sated, Warren's battery was dead, so we had to get a jump from a friend, Mexican style, as we all laughed our asses off.
As we were leaving, a Mexican friend, the brother of a woman we bought our land from, confided, "This is so wonderful because we all chose this place. We all chose this life. It's our collective energy that allows this to happen."
Amen, amigo. Amen! Viva la Solstice!!
We awakened to a hint of frost -- 30 degrees fahrenheit. By the time we'd showered and made coffee, the temperature had risen to the mid-50's. After a couple hours of e-mails and laundry, we headed out to a party hosted by Bill, a long-time member of my Guys Group, and his partner Ann.
When we arrived, the first thing we noticed was a docile grey burro standing in their foyer, laden with tequila bottles. [???] Next to the burro was a lovely lady handing out little ceramic cups on lanyards. Ours to keep; ours to keep filled with tequila. Needless to say, the party, under a cloudless seventy-five degree sky, was magnificent. Ann did all the cooking, Bill provided the herbal enhancements, while the rest of us provided our fair share of conviviality... and made new friends.
Next, we put on swim suits under our party clothes and headed into the countryside for our first ever Winter Solstice party, uninvited guests of our friends Warren & Tuli. Upon arriving, a half hour or so short of sunset, we were escorted down a long path and series of stone stairways to a man-made, candle-lit grotto, filled with spring-fed hot water, the brainchild of Warren's friends Gary and Laura. (Don't ask; the man is an entrepreneurial genius!!) We peeled down to our suits, were offered more tequila (Gary's private label!) and additional herbal refreshments, handed a piece of welder's glass, and we joined about thirty other folks in the pool, peering down a football-field length tunnel toward a narrow vertical slot that framed the setting sun (on this one day of the year!).
For the next half hour or so we experienced an escalating communal excitement, watching the sun go down with a group of near-total strangers... and felt about as connected as we've ever been. Once the sun set, to loud cheers and chants, we ventured down the tunnel, through increasingly colder water, to a cliffside infinity pool that overlooked the orange-glowing sky and the emerging lights of San Miguel. Above Venus shown and minute by minute, the sky went from dark blue to purple to black, as the Milky Way, in all its luminous glory, emerged.
When we returned to the grotto, water was pouring from tubes in the ceiling, a powerful free-form shower most folks reveled in. Before long, folks took turns holding the arms and legs of a supine friend, whisking them back and forth or slowly rotating them through the falling water. Not exactly a massage and not exactly sex, but definitely in the same ballpark.
Eventually, we all reached a happy dream-like and prune-like state.
Once we dried off, in a frenzy of naked excitement, we headed up to Gary and Laura's hacienda to enjoy a huge pot of homemade pozole, the unbelievable music of a live, five-piece band and dancing en masse under the star-lit sky. Whoa!!
Naturally, when we went to leave, drowsy and sated, Warren's battery was dead, so we had to get a jump from a friend, Mexican style, as we all laughed our asses off.
As we were leaving, a Mexican friend, the brother of a woman we bought our land from, confided, "This is so wonderful because we all chose this place. We all chose this life. It's our collective energy that allows this to happen."
Amen, amigo. Amen! Viva la Solstice!!
Soooooo San Miguel
We may indeed have jumped from the South Carolina religious-right pan straight into the San Miguel de Allende Californicated fire. A recent article in our local bilingual newspaper described the author this way:
"________ has a master's degree in Health Science and Nutrition as well as advanced education in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Iridology, herbology, and aromatherapy. She is also a licensed esthetician, Certified Intuitive Counselor and Certified Hypnotherapist and Biological Decoder."
Biological Decoder???? It's a big and amaxing world out there, no?
"________ has a master's degree in Health Science and Nutrition as well as advanced education in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Iridology, herbology, and aromatherapy. She is also a licensed esthetician, Certified Intuitive Counselor and Certified Hypnotherapist and Biological Decoder."
Biological Decoder???? It's a big and amaxing world out there, no?
This Made Me cry
I just read this post from Melissa Etheridge, one of my favorite singer-songwriters. I hope it gives you the sense of hope that flooded through me minutes ago. God love you, amigos. Maybe, just maybe, the future will be better for ALL of us.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Aleksandr Got It Right!
Today's the birthday of Russian novelist, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn who said, "One should never direct people towards happiness, because happiness too is an idol of the market-place. One should direct them towards mutual affection. A beast gnawing at its prey can be happy too, but only human beings can feel affection for each other, and this is the highest achievement they can aspire to."
Monday, December 08, 2008
Right on, Abigail!
"I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic." ---Abigail Adams, wife of the second U.S. president and mother of the sixth
